8 years ago
All posts by Blake Howard
Redone and Dumber: 5 Unnecessary Remakes
A lot of remakes get a bad wrap. There are some wonderful stories that for whatever reason (setting, format, an enduring quality) that yearn to be revisited. Michael Mann's L.A Takedown needed to be made into Heat; Brian De Palma and Al Pacino famously revisit...
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Perfect Pesci: The Best Performances
Joe motherflippin* Pesci, one of America’s greatest living actors, and the Baby Boomer's answer to James Cagney, has a strange and wonderful résumé, and he was born today in 1943. At the front of mind are his collaborations with Scorsese and De Niro or the int...
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Under the Skin: 5 Reasons Why “Mysterious Skin” Should Be Required Teen Viewing
New Queer Wave iconoclast Gregg Araki established himself as an unapologetically abrasive director, willing to be as rough and harsh as possible when it came to approaching subjects of queerness, HIV/AIDS, and dysfunctional relationship. But with his 2004 film...
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5 Insights into “Miami Vice” from Michael Mann’s Audio Commentary
First and foremast if you’re a cinephile and particularly a Michael Mann fan, you’re doing yourself a disservice if you haven’t had a chance to listen to his erudite and insightful director’s commentaries. The best of his crop by far is the commentary of the e...
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The Michael Mann Guide to Crime
If the work of Michael Mann can be identified by anything it's a meticulousness and almost obsessive pursuit for authenticity. In a filmmaking resume that has often forayed into the world of professional criminals he's inadvertently provided some stellar advic...
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